1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to sharps in the medical industry, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for extracting sharps from medical devices.
2. Related Art
Sharps are defined by Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHA) as being, “any contaminated object that can penetrate the skin, including but not limited to, needles, scalpels, broken glass, broken capillary tubes, and exposed ends of dental wires,” Exposure Control Plan (ECP) 1910.1030(b). The proper disposal of sharps within the medical arena is significantly more costly than the disposal of traditional, non-sharp waste or non-sharp containing medical waste, largely as a result of having to comply with federal guidelines and regulations. Accordingly, it is widely known that the proper disposal of sharps comes at a significant cost to hospitals and other medical institutions where sharps are widely present. This is particularly true and problematic in situations where the sharp, such as a relatively small needle or lancet, for example, is contained within a significantly larger container as an assembly, wherein the entire assembly must be treated and disposed of under very strict OSHA guidelines mandated for proper sharp disposal. The volume of waste created by relatively large “sharp-containing” assemblies, such as various types of containers or components thereof, for example, can require disposal of the sharp-containing assemblies on a daily basis, particularly within institutions where high volume usage of the sharp-containing assemblies is high, which can prove to be very costly. Contributing to the cost of disposal of contaminated medical waste is the need to first sterilize the waste and then have it comminuted into small pieces. Further yet, in addition to the cost placed on the medical institution as a result of having to properly dispose of the contaminated, sharp-containing medical waste is an inherent cost that is placed on the environment in that the comminuted material from the sharp container assemblies is typically sent to landfills. A further complicating issue related to the disposal of sharps is an OSHA regulation that prevents persons from having direct physical contact with the sharp.
An example of a sharp container assembly that has proven costly to properly dispose under the strict OSHA regulations is a urine sample container assembly. The urine sample container assembly includes a plastic reservoir and a lid assembly. The lid assembly typically includes a plastic lid portion with a sharp attached thereto to facilitate obtaining a sample of the urine from the reservoir. The sharp is generally in the form of a needle that is attached within a funnel portion of the lid that depends into the reservoir upon fastening the lid assembly to the reservoir. A protective rubber sheath typically covers the needle for sterilization and protection purposes. When a urine sample is needed from the reservoir, a vacuum sealed vial having a rubber seal cover is pressed onto the needle such that the needle punctures the rubber seal cover, whereupon the vacuum within the vial causes a sample of urine to be drawn into the vial. With the sample procured in the vial, the vial is withdrawn from the needle, whereupon the urine sample container assembly can be discarded. However, due to the lid assembly having the sharp attached thereto, the entire lid assembly must be treated as a sharp, and thus, must be disposed of under the costly measures associated with the disposal of sharps. Of course, given the lid occupies a substantially greater volume than the needle alone, the total volume of the “sharp containing” assembly is dramatically increased. As a result of the volume of the lid assemblies, frequent and regularly scheduled disposal of the “sharp containing” lid assemblies, such as daily, by properly licensed, relatively high cost medical waste disposal personnel, as compared to standard, non-sharp containing waste disposal personnel, is often required in medical facilities.